FLDS Priesthood History for 5th - 8th Grade Students

Taught by Warren Jeffs

Tape # 20 – January 10, 1996

Subject: David & Solomon
I desire Heavenly Father's spirit to be here. I remember Him. Our whole effort is to teach you
His history. Every story I tell you is to get you think of Heavenly Father more. The greatest law that a
person could ever live in this life is celestial and plural marriage. It must be lived in the spirit of the
united order, where the family loves one another. There can be no fighting there if they are a heavenly
family. The Lord guards this great law very carefully. He says the only ones who can live the family
order of heaven are those who are told to live it through the prophet. For a person to enter into that holy
law & then turn against it, they never will see heaven. They will be destroyed. Even if they are married
here in this life, have a family, if they turn against that great law, in the hereafter they won't have a
family. You have to live that law right or you won't have a family. What makes Heavenly Father happy
is that He has a family & we are part of it. He has the promise from His Father. He will never be
without a family.
I know you're young people, not really thinking about getting married yet. How carefully your
parents guard you - they teach you to dress right. They teach the boys to respect girls & not touch them.
Your parents teach you girls to leave the boys alone, no touching each other. This is a special gift to you
right now. You don't see the importance of it perhaps, but one day you'll see that you can only live that
great and high law if you are clean - you not touching boys or boys touching girls.
King David was a man who was told to live this law. The Lord sent the prophet Nathan after
Samuel died, Nathan gave certain girls to king David. He had many wives. The Lord said David didn't
sin in taking more wives because he was commanded to do it.
The purpose for entering into plural marriage is so that a man can raise up more children
to the Lord. In heaven, there is no monogamy – no man with just one wife. In Heaven there are only
men with many wives each. In Heaven, there is no such this as a woman being the only wife. The only
way she can be married is to be married to a man who has more than one wife. We are talking about
something very important. I’m talking to many children here who come from this type of family. This
life is just a test. When you get a blessing (wife), it will only stay with you if you are obedient. If you
treat your blessings (wives) wrong, you will lose them.
So it was with king David, who was a man after the Lord's own heart. David did much good.
One day, he decided not to go with his army to battle. He stayed back at his home. He was a man with
great power - he could speak & kill people if he wanted. He could order them dead & take whatever he
wanted & do whatever he wanted. Up to this time, he had been obedient. Now, the Lord said even
married people need to pray always because there's this sin of being immoral - uncovered, unclean, that
can destroy anyone if they give in to it.
One day, David walked out on the roof of his house & he looked down & there, at a neighboring
house, was a woman - her name was Bathsheba. She was the wife of a man named Uriah, who was a
good soldier in David's army & who did whatever David commanded. This woman was washing
herself & David looked at her & thought she was very beautiful, so he sent his servants to find out who
this woman was. David wasn't saying his prayers so he didn't have Heavenly Father's spirit to protect
him. The devil tempted him to want to touch that woman & she belonged to another man. He
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told his servants, "order her to come & be with me" it started just with talking but then David
committed adultery with that woman & she was with David's child. He committed a great sin against
the heavenly law of marriage.
If a man is with a woman that isn't his wife & touches her, he loses everything. He can't have a
family any more. He can't be trusted any more. David didn't just touch this woman. He didn't just have
a child by her. He did a greater sin. He wanted to hide the evil he had done. When she told him that she
was with child, he ordered Uriah to come home & be with her so everybody would think the child was
her husband's. Uriah, being a faithful soldier, slept all night on the steps of the king's house rather than
go & visit his wife. The next morning, David found this out & talked to Uriah, who said, "I'm here to
do what you want - not what my wife wants." So, David told him to drink lots of wine & go home to
his wife. Again, Uriah stayed faithful to the king & would not go home. David was angry. When a
person commits that terrible evil of immortality, it is a sin next to murder. Very often, people who
commit adultery go the next step & commit the worst sin of murder. David sent Uriah to the front of the
battle where it was ordered that no one move except Uriah. He rushed to the enemy & fought until he
was killed.
Word came to David & he said, "Oh, I will take care of Uriah's wife now. I will make her as my
wife because I'm going to be kind & take care of her." Nobody could see that he had done anything
wrong. Now Bathsheba was his wife & it was all hidden from the people. The way you know
something evil is, you have to hide it, but there's one person you can't trick & that is Heavenly Father.
He sees everything. One day, the Lord told Nathan, the prophet to talk to King David. Nathan accused
David of the sin & said, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel. I gave you
your master's wives (the wives of Saul became David's wives). I would have given you more if you had
stayed faithful." Nathan told David, "What you have done secretly, the Lord will do to you, openly."
David was caught. He bowed down before the prophet, begging for forgiveness. David & Bathsheba's
child died. The Lord caused, or allowed, evils to happen in David's family. David was a murderer at this
point
A murderer can never see the celestial kingdom. David lost his family. He will never get his
wives & children back. They have been taken away & will be given to another man. When a man
enters into this celestial law of plural marriage & commits that sin, he loses everything. Bathsheba
stayed as David's wife. After that child died, she had another son & his name was Solomon. He became
the next king. David was allowed to continue in this life with his wives & family, but when he died, he
was turned over to the buffetings of Satan and he still is there with the torment of devils around him,
punishing him for what he did. A murderer has no forgiveness & he will be destroyed in the next life
(hereafter). Notice the sin that led to it - this immorality.
David had a son named Amnon from one wife & a daughter named Tamar from another. They
didn't really live together. David had become immoral & done great evils & now his children followed
his example. Amnon started to want to touch his sister, Tamar, until one day he trapped her & forced
her - made her be with him. He touched her & they were not dressed. Another brother, Absolom, killed
Amnon because of how he treated their sister. All Israel saw what was happening. Some of the children
did evil with their sisters. Some people did evil with David's wives. All Israel saw this terrible evil
happening. It was not hidden. Absolom tried to take over his father's kingdom, David had to flee from
his own son & his son's army. David got an army together & they went forth & killed Absolom, then
David returned as the king.
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 Young people, I'm here to tell you this lesson today. You have no right to do wrong. The things
you do in this life, you must answer for. Even if you have secret evils, one day they will be known.
Today is the day to repent & be clean, do right. If a man who has wives in this priesthood, goes & stays
with another man's wife or other women, he loses his family. He can't have his wives & children
more. The prophet will take them & usually he will give them to another man who is faithful.
What can we do to learn from this story? You boys, you will grow up & you will be tempted to look at
girls. The girls will grow up & be tempted to look at boys.
The devil has the right to tempt us, but we don't have to listen to him. When a girl wants to think
about a certain boy, all she has to do is say a prayer. Uncle Roy said to pray night & day for deliverance
from evil.
Boys, if you're ever tempted to think of girls, just say a prayer. Ask the Lord to deliver you from
that evil. Don't quit your prayer until you stop thinking that evil, toward the boy or girl. That's how you
fight this fight & stay clean. I've heard President Jeffs say he had to do it. He had to learn to resist those
thoughts by praying always. He is the cleanest man on earth. We should listen to the one who is our
best example.
David stayed king for forty years & great evils happened within his own family. Today, he is in
the spirit world, suffering because of his sin. He will not be delivered from that suffering until the end
of the earth, then after his punishments, the Lord will put him where he belongs.
There is one sin you cannot repent of, that is to turn traitor to the priesthood - desiring to kill.
Uncle Roy split it into two…you cannot shed innocent blood or turn traitor, or you will become a son
of perdition – the boys. Now who will become Goddesses, girls? Your beauty right now is because boys
haven't touched you. You are innocent & clean. You want to get married as a clean girl, not having the
boys touch you. And boys, your power to be a father & lead a family is because you haven't touched
girls. You want to stay clean or you'll lose that power. You won't be able to be a good father if you're
unclean. What is the law of the Lord? It is, boys who chase after girls & get a wife by stealing her, you
become the greatest thief - a boy does, he can never be trusted with more than one wife. Especially you,
young people, who have been taught better - so we teach the girls, any boy that says he likes you &
wants to touch you, that boy is death to you. And boys, any girl that says she likes you & wants to
touch you, that girl is death to you. Even if you got together & liked each other, you would lose any
right in the next life (hereafter) to have a family. Even when a boy & girl are liars & deceitful, sneak
around until they get together, they are only hurting themselves because the prophet will never trust that
man with another wife.
You can’t go to heaven & be a god unless you have more than one wife. So, those people that
sneak around & do those evils are only tricking themselves. You can't trick Heavenly Father. Now learn
this lesson, young people, because our prophet has rebuked this whole people for evils like this among
us. He has encouraged the pure in heart & he's called upon us to clean up. How do you start in life,
right? How do you avoid this evil sin of immorality? We've taught you plainly... you boys, don't even
get dressed around your own brothers & sisters, when you're working with the little babies, don't get
them undressed in front of everybody, & teach them it's ok to be naked. Treat your body as sacred &
special, not to be seen by other people. Keep covered, in other words. Everyone here should be wearing
the long underwear – you should be, or you shouldn’t be in this school if you aren’t. The prophet has
called upon you to wear it as a protection. Your job is to keep the long underwear covered so that other
people can’t see it. Thus, you must wear proper clothes.
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 The reason the young people out in the world are so bad & evil is because they've been taught
to go uncovered in front of other people. That's why there is so much evil out there. We are the
priesthood people. We dare tell you what you must do to be clean. The only clean people are those who
have Heavenly Father's spirit enough to not think these evil thoughts of the nakedness around us. What
a fight we have to fight. You go to the store & there's naked people & naked pictures. How sad it is
when a big brother or sister sneaks around & brings those evil pictures & things into the home, without
the parents knowing. They become the destroyers of their brothers & sisters. If any of your brothers or
sisters are doing these secret evils, quickly let your father know - quickly tell you mothers. It could
destroy you if you start to like those naked things, those evils. If they're listening to the bad music that
teaches them to do this great evil, quickly help them. Don't secretly follow their evils, for you are only
tricking yourself - you'll destroy yourself.
Now boys, you don't even have the right to take hold of a girl's arm until you are married. Girls,
you shouldn't desire it. That's what Uncle Roy taught us. Only by priesthood permission can you ever
do this thing. I know some of you go to the dances, but that's only by priesthood permission, when their
fathers are right there.
The fathers have the right to tell the girls "no", they don't want them to dance or dance with
certain people. All things by priesthood. Today you girls are precious jewels in your father’s home.
Your father is trying to raise you up clean & pure so you can become a clean mother in the priesthood. I
dare talk this way because I know what really it is you are going through. I yearn that you will turn
your eyes away from the nakedness you see around us. Driving down the street, look another way.
Don't stare at the naked people. The pictures in the stores just look some other way. The only way you
can do it is if you are saying a prayer for deliverance.
Here I have 7th & 8th grade girls - even some older boys could start paying you some attention,
maybe not the boys in your grade even. Somebody could get word to you that a certain boy likes how
you look. It very often starts in 6th, 7th & 8th grade. What is your protection, girls? I'll tell you what
your danger is - it's when you keep it secret. Run to your mother; don't keep it a secret, if you have
heard some boy likes you. Quickly get the protection & tell your parents. The girls that don't do that
have taken the first step off the cliff. If you keep that evil secret, it will grow and grow. You will stop
saying your prayers - you'll think about it & think about it until you do something you can't undo. It's
something like killing your spirit, when a girl lets a boy be with her. You don't want to die inside. You
want to be alive just like you are today. Boys, I counsel to you, when there's a girl that you are tempted
to look at, say that prayer & just look away. Those that do these evils in their heart are killing their own
spirit. You're not tricking anybody but yourself if these temptations are coming to you. Our prophet said
to be clean. Clean hands means don't touch things that aren't yours, & boys, no girl is yours. You can't
touch her. Girls, no boy is yours - you can't touch him & still be clean.
Take this lesson from King David's life. In section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants, it says
“He, King David is damned. He has lost everything." We don't want that. If King David had just said
his prayers & wanted the right, he would have been protected. We won't go much more into that king's
life.
The next king is King Solomon. He did right at first. He was a young man when he became
king. Before David died, he ordered Solomon to kill certain enemies, Solomon did. Shortly after
becoming king, he showed how he was humble! Solomon could have asked for gold, silver, wives,
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houses, lands, but all he asked for was wisdom to be a good king. He was told he would have houses,
lands, wives, children, everything, if he would just serve the Lord & this is what happened. All the
people came to him to learn of his wisdom, but once he became rich & powerful, he also did this evil
that his father committed. He started to marry women - gentile girls… whom he was not supposed to
marry. He had 700 wives & concubines. He built a great temple to the Lord, but as he got older, he
married these rebellious, evil girls & they convinced him to build temples to idols. There again, a ruler
fell. Solomon became immoral, he started to want wives for the wrong reasons. He lost his kingdom.
He ruled for forty years also.
I would rather tell you stories of the prophets. The prophet Nathan was sent to correct even the
king. You have learned the lesson today; nothing is hidden from the Lord. Just do right. To be protected
from these evils, say your prayers. Now, one more warning young people... I've got word that some of
you are still watching television. Some of you are still going to movies. It's not your job to get after
anybody else if they do it. The prophet will handle that family eventually. The prophet has said, if you
watch television, it will turn you toward this great evil of immorality like King David committed.
Everything in the TV is bad now. There is not good there. Stay away from it. It is poison. Dear young
people, will you die? Would you go & thrust a knife into your stomach just because you can do it? You
are killing your spirit gradually, when you enjoy those evils of the world. Our prophet has said to come
out of the world & be clean. Please, young people, if the TV is on, walk away. You can do it.